The company is also planning further investment into the plant – opened last week by science minister David Willetts – including new packaging lines and additional cold storage facilities planned for 2011.

By the end of this year, the 22-acre site will have seen the packaging of nearly 50 million doses of medicines, with volumes anticipated to grow to in excess of 70 million by 2012.

Dr Jim Neville, managing director at Pfizer Havant said: “The opening of this new facility is exciting news for both colleagues and the local community. The specialist packaging site recognises the expert skills that exist in Havant and our important role in the packaging and delivery of medicines to patients around the world.”

The minister said he was “hugely encouraged that even in these tough economic times, the world’s largest research-based biopharmaceutical company has chosen the UK to make this significant investment.”